Moving message clip

ABSTRACT

A CHANGEABLE DISPLAY DEVICE WHICH CAN BE MADE INTEGRAL WITH VARIOUS ITEMS, THE ITEMS THEREUPON BEING PROVIDED WITH A WINDOW THROUGH WHICH THE DISPLAY IS VIEWED A ROTATABLE MEMBER CARRYING INFORMATION TO BE DISPLAYED IS MOVED, VIA LINKAGES ATTACHED TO A MOVABLE MEMBER OF THE ITEM, SO AS TO CHANGE THE DISPLAY EACH TIME THE ITEM IS EMPLOYED.

Dec. 7, 1971 R. LEWTAN 3,624,943

MOVING MESSAGE CLIP Filed llarch 17, 1969 INVENTOR ROBERT LEWTAN M MawATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,624,943 MOVING MESSAGE CLIP RobertLewtan, 11 Arlen Way, West Hartford, Conn. 06117 Filed Mar. 17, 1969,Ser. No. 807,805 Int. Cl. G09f 11/04 US. Cl. 40-71 7 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A changeable display device which can be made integralwith various items, the items thereupon being provided with a windowthrough which the display is viewed. A rotatable member carryinginformation to be displayed is moved, via linkages attached to a movablemember of the item, so as to change the display each time the item isemployed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention The presentinvention relates to the display of messages. More specifically, thepresent invention is directed to items having a changeable indiciadisplay mechanism integral therewith. Accordingly, the general objectsof the present invention are to provide novel and improved methods andapparatus of such character.

(2) Description of the prior art While not limited thereto in itsutility, the present invention has been found to be particularly wellsuited to employment in clip devices for retaining papers. The presentinvention may also be employed in cigarette lighters, knives and, in theclip embodiment, as a badge which will be clamped onto wearing apparel.Regardless of the field of use, items of the type with which the presentinvention may be employed, when used to convey information, havepreviously presented a static display. Thus, in the prior art when itwas desired, for example, to employ clamp devices as an advertisingmedium, the desired message was customarily painted on the device.

As is well known, a moving or changeable display is much more apt toattract attention than a static display. However, as noted above, itemsavailable in the prior art could display only a single, nonalterablemessage or design.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the abovebriefly discussed disadvantages of the prior art and in so doingprovides a novel moving display device. In accordance with the presentinvention, one component of an item which is to be used for displaying amessage is provided with a viewing window. Positioned behind the viewingwindow is a rotatable member which bears a plurality of spaciallydisplaced indicia which are to be displayed through the window. Therotatable indicia bearing member is provided with projections or holeswhich are engaged by a lever mechanism mounted internally of the item.The lever mechanism is operated by a projection which is affixed to amovable component of the item which does not have the window therein.Each time the movable component is operated, the projection will engagethe lever mechanism which in turn engages the rotatable indicia bearingmember thereby causing the display viewed through the window to -bechanged in stepwise fashion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The present invention may be betterunderstood and its numerous objects and advantages will become apparent3,624,943 Patented Dec. 7, 1971 to those skilled in the art by referenceto the accompanying drawing wherein like reference numerals refer tolike elements in the several figures and in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a first embodiment of a clamp deviceemploying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view, partly in section, of the embodiment of FIG. 1taken along line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view of the message-changing mechanism of the embodiment ofFIG. 1, the view in FIG. 3 being taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference now to FIG. 1, aclamp or clip device employing the present invention is shown generallyat 10. As is common in the art, clamp 10 comprises oppositely disposedjaw members 12 and 14. The jaw member 12, which will function as thefront of the clamp, is provided with a viewing window 16. Window 16, inthe usual instance, will comprise a rectangular slot in jaw member 12; atransparent plastic element commensurate in size with the slot beingsnapped or press-fit therein.

I aw members 12 and 14 are normally maintained in the closed positionshown in FIG. 1 by means of a spring 18. Spring 18 comprises a strip ofspring steel which, as may best be seen from FIG. 2, extends between jawmembers 12 and 14 and is formed into a substantially C-shape. The

clamp is opened by pressing members 12 and 14 together at the endopposite to the normally closed jaws thereby compressing spring 18.Through the action of spring 18, release of pressure at the top ofmembers 12 and 14 permits the clamp to resume its closed position. Jawmembers 12 and 14, when opening and closing, pivot about a pair ofpivots 19, only one of which is shown in FIG. 1, which pass throughinwardly extending arms at each side of each of jaw members 12 and 14intermediate the length of the jaw members.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the indicia bearing member comprisesa rotatable disc 30' (see FIGS. 2 and 3) which bears a plurality ofmessages or indicia on its front face. Disc 30 is provided witheccentrically positioned cutouts 31 which, as will be described indetail below, are engaged by the message-changing mechanism. Disc 30 isheld in position adjacent the rear surface of jaw member 12 and with theindicia thereon alignable with window 16 by means of a plate 20. Plate20 has a short projection or dimple therein which engages a depressionat the center rear of disc 30 and disc 30 is provided with a dimple, notshown, which provides a bearing surface which rests against the rear ofclamp member 12, the disc member rotating on this bearing surface.

With reference now to FIG. 2, it may be seen that plate 20 is providedwith a semicircular, inwardly extending projection 22. The rear or otherclamp member 14 has, suitably affixed thereto, an inwardly extendingprojection 24 which is pivotably connected to semicircular projection 22intermediate its length by a rivet or other suitable means 26. The freeend of forwardly extending projection 24, i.e. the end adjacent the rearsurface of clamp member 12, is provided with a slot which engages alever arm indicated generally at 28. As may best be seen from FIG. 3,lever arm 28 is pivotably attached to the rear surface of plate 20. Thepoint of attachment of lever arm 28 is adjacent one side of plate 20 andis so located that the lever arm will cross the axis of rotation of disc30 intermediate its stroke.

Lever arm 28 is provided, at its free end, with a transverse extensionor ratchet arm 29 which passes through a curved slot 34 in plate 20 and,in the manner to be explained below, engages the side of the cutouts 31in rotatable disc 30. As should now be obvious, opening of clamp byforcing jaw members 12 and 14 together at their top or normally openends will cause projection 24 to rotate about pivot point 26. Rotationof the free end of projection 24, since lever arm 28 is engaged in theslot therein, causes the lever arm to turn about its pivot point and arm29 will thus travel in curved slot 34. since arm 29 will engage the sideof one of cutouts 31 in disc 30, movement of the lever arm 28 resultingfrom opening of the clamp will cause the disc 30 to turn and the displayviewed through window 16 to change.

Referring again to FIGS. 2 and 3, it may be seen that plate is providedwith a forwardly extending member, indicated generally at 32, whichfunctions as a pawl. Pawl member 32 is formed by providing a cut inplate 20 adjacent curved slot 34 and the end 33 of pawl 32 is turnedoutwardly whereby it will engage the sides of cutouts 31 in disc 30.

In operation, each time the clamp 10 is opened, the lever arm 28 will bemoved from the position shown in FIG. 3 to the bottom of slot 34. In somoving, the lever arm will engage one of the cutouts 31 in disc 30 andthus cause the display viewed through window 16 tochange. When theopening force on clamp 10 is released, lever arm 28 will return to itsinitial position and projection 29 will drop into another one of cutouts31 in disc 30. As the lever arm returns, ratchet arm 29 will ride upover the rear surface of disc 30, disc 30 being held against movement inthe clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 3, by engagement of the end33 of pawl 32 with the side of one of cutouts 31.

While a preferred embodiment has been shown and described, variousmodifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, for example,the indicia bearing rotatable member may be in the form of a cylinderrather than a disc and the message-changing means may comprise a ratchetand pawl mechanism with projection 24 functioning as a reciprocatinglever which engages a ratchet wheel on the message cylinder. Also, themember which carries the reciprocating projection may, for example, bethe base of a knife blade or the cover of a cigarette lighter.Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has beendescribed by way of illustration and not limitation.

What is claimed is:

1. A display device comprising:

a rotatable member, said member having a plurality of spaciallydisplaced indicia on the front surface thereof, said member furtherbeing provided with a plurality of equally spaced drive surfaces;

a reciprocating actuator member;

a pivotal lever engaged by one end of said actuator member, said leverbeing oriented substantially transversely of said actuator member andbeing engaged thereby adjacent a first end thereof; and

a projection extending from the other end of said lever, said projectionbeing integral with said lever and being oriented substantially parallelto said actuator member, said projection releasably engaging saidrotatable member drive surfaces for imparting movement to said member inone direction, said projection and said point of engagement of saidlever by said actuator member both being on the same side of the pointabout which said lever pivots.

2. The device of claim 1 further comprising:

pawl means for restraining said rotatable member from movement in theopposite direction.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein said rotatable member comprises:

a disc having a plurality of apertures therein, said apertures definingat one side thereof said drive surfaces.

4. The device of claim 1 further comprising:

support means on which said rotatable member rotates, said support meansbeing provided with a viewing window aligned with said indicia, oneindicia being viewed through said window at a time.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein said actuator member comprises:

an arm having a first end which engages said lever;

means pivotally supporting said arm from said support means intermediateits length whereby the end of said arm which engages said lever isconstrained to reciprocating motion; and

clamp means rigidly connected to the second end of said arm, said clampmeans being commensurate in size with said rotatable member supportingmeans and cooperating therewith to define a display device wherein therotatable indicia bearing member is actuated by relative movementbetween said clamp means and rotatable member supporting means.

6. The device of claim 5 further comprising:

pawl means for restraining said rotatable member from movement in theopposite direction.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein said rotatable mem ber comprises:

a disc having a plurality of apertures therein, a wall of each of saidapertures defining a drive surface and being serially engaged by saidlever projection during movement of said lever in a first direction, awall of each of said apertures being engaged by said pawl during returnof said lever in a second direction.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,211,540 1/1917 Caplan 40712,946,148 7/1960 Mihalek 40-7l X ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner L.R. OREMLAND, Assistant Examiner

